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September 1, 2016

Today we celebrate:

American Chess Day - I found lots of references to this day so I’m sure it’s an unofficial holiday. But I couldn’t find any other information about it such as who created it, why and when. All the little details I like to give you when I can. I’ll keep looking and maybe I’ll find something for next year’s post.

National Cherry Popover Day - A popover is named so because of the way it pops over the edge of the muffin tin when it cooks forming a hollow interior that can be filled with many delicious things such as creamy custard, sauces, or jams. This is the day to fill them with cherry sauce. I’ve never had one like this, but I think it’s sure to be delicious.

Pink Cadillac Day - I’m sure you’ve heard of Elvis Presley. But just in case you have spent your life in a cave in Siberia, I will tell you he was a famous rock and roll music artist who in many ways changed the way we viewed and listened to music. On this day in 1956, Elvis bought his mother a Cadillac that he had painted pink. His first Cadillac was pink, but it only survived three months before being destroyed in a fire. The one he gave his mother was his second Cadillac and it was blue originally, but he had a friend paint it pink. There have been a few musicians who have sung songs about pink Cadillacs, like Natalie Cole and Bruce Springsteen, but Elvis was the first in his song “Baby, Let’s Play House.”

Emma M. Nutt Day – Emma Mills Nutt was born sometime in 1860 and became the world's first female telephone operator on this day in 1878. She worked 54 hours a week for the Edwin Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company for a salary of $10 a month. The company began hiring women for this job because the men they had been employing showed poor attitudes such as a lack of patience with customers, pulling pranks on customers, and bad language. A few hours after Emma was hired, her sister Stella Nutt was also hired. The customer response was so overwhelmingly positive that more women were hired to replace the men.

International Day of Awareness for the Dolphins of Taiji – Apparently in Taiji, Japan, they have dolphin hunts. This is a day to remember the dolphins that have been killed in these hunts, as well as the ones who will be killed in the future as they are still ongoing. I find this to be a very sad situation and don’t understand the reason behind it. Maybe the reason, whatever it was, is no longer relevant but many people find that traditions are hard to part with.

Building and Code Staff Appreciation Day – These are the people who work hard to keep our buildings safe for us to work and live in. Show them some appreciation today instead of getting mad if they find some violations to the building code.

Calendar Adjustment Day – In 1751, the British government passed the British Calendar Act of 1751. This meant that Britain and the American Colonies had to make the “Gregorian Correction” in 1752. The correction entailed the loss of 11 days. Life went as normal through Wednesday, September 2, 1752 but the very next day became Thursday, September 14, 1752. This act also changed New Year's Day from March 25th to January 1st which meant that instead of the year changing over in March, it happened on January 1, 1752 and every year after that. This caused the year 1751 to have only 282 days because 1751 began on March 25th and ended on December 31st and the year 1752 had 355 days because of the 11 day loss I mentioned earlier. Can you imagine what an uproar a change like that would cause these days? I imagine that there were a lot of people asking each other, “What day is it again?” It’s probably a good thing that this happened before the Revolutionary War. If it happened during or after, our founding fathers were so obstinate that they probably would have refused to comply and we would probably still have a calendar that is different from the rest of the world.

Chicken Boy's Day – Today we celebrate the birthday of a giant statue of a person with a chicken head that used to stand on top of a fried chicken restaurant in Los Angeles from the 1960's until 1984. It was then given to Amy Inouye, an art director who kept it in storage until she found the right place for it. In 2007, it was moved to the top of her art studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles.

National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day – This is a day to celebrate words that do not rhyme with any other words in the English language like “purple”. Words like these are completely unique and therefore more creative on the part of the people who came up with them.

Toy Tips Executive Toy Test Day – This is an annual day celebrated in New York City where the senior executives of different companies get to gather together to play with toys. Well, they call it testing the toys, but we all know that it is really just playing. They are supposedly learning how to incorporate creativity into their workplaces.